BX 8237 
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Copy 1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



022 010 532 5 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



1 



THE 



ORGANIC UNION 



OF 



American Methodism. 



By BISHOP S. M.* MERRILL. 



CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE. 
NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON, 
1892, 



IIthe library 
ii of cono*k»» 

BwAtHI KO TOW 



.A* 



Copyright 
By CRANSTON & STOWE, 
1892. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



HE writer desires it understood that in the 



* following pages he speaks for himself alone, 
and not for the Church in any sense whatso- 
ever. No one is authorized to speak for the 
Church on the subject presented. Some will 
doubt the propriety of this publication, unofficial 
as it is ; but, after weighing the matter as care- 
fully as possible, the persuasion is clear that the 
things herein said ought to be said, and that 
the present time for saying them is as oppor- 
tune as any likely to come in the near future. 

It will be observed that he confines himself 
to his own views and impressions. He is not 
ignorant of the literature on the subject that ac- 
cumulated in the years of controversy, but he 
passes it by in silence. No attempt is made to 
sustain or illustrate his positions by citations of 
authority. His purpose has been to set forth 
his thoughts in outline, with genuine frankness 
and plainness of speech, yet not in the way of 




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4 



Intr od uctor y. 



controversy. It has been impossible to do this 
at some points without the appearance of argu- 
ment, but he verily believes he has maintained 
fairness and indulged no feeling contrary to that 
which he commends to others. It is but just to 
say that he is not sanguine in the expectation of 
witnessing the desired consummation in his day; 
but he can not see in that fact any reason for with- 
holding his convictions, or refusing to contribute 
whatever of influence his words may have to- 
wards the better understanding so certainly 
needed. 

He entered the ministry the year the division 
of the Church occurred, and through a door in- 
directly opened as the result of division, and 
afterwards spent some years on the debated 
ground, often coming in contact with the bitterest 
feelings engendered in the strife on the border; 
so that his recollections of the old debates are 
vivid, and sometimes sad. In his ministry in 
the times of slavery he has met organized mobs 
in his congregations ; has been arraigned before 
mass-meetings of regulators, with a view to his 
expulsion from the State ; has been presented to 
the grand jury for indictment under special legis- 



Introd uctor y. 



5 



lation designed to send him to the State's Prison ; 
has been threatened with bludgeons, tar-buckets, 
and bullets ; and, therefore, he does not forget 
the former days, when to represent the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church on Southern soil was at 
once a peril and an honor. After all, he bears 
no ill-feeling towards Southern people or 
Churches, but wishes and prays, not only for 
fraternity, but also for ultimate organic union. 

While the latter may be delayed, the time is 
at hand for something more than Conference 
fraternity. There ought to be practical union 
and co-operation in foreign missionary work. 
There is no need of a divided Methodism in 
China, Japan, or Mexico. It is a reproach to us 
if a plan for this can not be devised. In this 
country there should be provision for the easier 
transfer of preachers from one Church to the other. 
Men and families in the South need the benefit of 
the climatic change to a higher latitude. Useful 
lives might be prolonged. Some whose health 
will not stand the rigor of Northern winters 
could work efficiently in the Southern States. 
There are more in this condition than our work 
in the South will accommodate. As things now 



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Introductory. 



are, such changes require withdrawal from the 
Church, and some risk and uncertainty in gain- 
ing admission. The bishops could easily concur 
in transfers between the Churches, if authorized 
by their respective General Conferences. In 
several respects it is possible to improve the 
relations of the Churches, in a practical way, 
without consolidation. Let all pray for divine 
guidance. 

Chicago, December, 1.89 1. 



ORGANIC UNION. 



i. 



HE subject of the future relations of the 



1 dissevered branches of the Methodist fam- 
ily is sufficiently important to attract attention 
to the utterances of any one who feels moved 
to give expression to thoughts which have be- 
come convictions, especially when clothed in 
the language of moderation and sincerity. 

The writer has convictions which are not 
the outgrowth of any suddenly awakened emo- 
tion; but which have been formed after careful 
observation of the situation of the Churches, 
and the best study he could give to all the ele- 
ments of the problem. He is not a recent con- 
vert to the views he now holds. What he be- 
lieves to-day he has believed for more than a 
score of years, and his convictions have grown 
with advancing life till a sense of duty impels 
him to say what he has hitherto cherished in 




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American Methodism. 



his heart. He is aware that he says it at the 
risk of precipitating a discussion which has 
been postponed so long that it has become 
almost too delicate to be mentioned. There is 
room for differences of opinion with regard to 
the expediency of this discussion; yet there is 
scarcely a probability that the " convenient sea- 
son' ' for beginning it will come at all, if all 
wait till every one is ready for it. If it were to 
be an angry controversy, or a discussion con- 
ducted otherwise than in the truest Christian 
spirit, it might be well to defer it as long as 
possible ; but a calm inquiry into existing facts 
and conditions, with a view to ascertaining the 
exact truth in the premises, can not be hurtful 
to any interest of the Church, and certainly not 
to that growing spirit of fraternity which we all 
recognize and in which we delight. 

By the union of Methodist Churches is meant 
the consolidation of all the denominations of 
Methodism in the United States in one govern- 
mental jurisdiction. "A wild, visionary idea," 
says one. "An impracticable scheme," says 
another. "Impossible and inexpedient," is the 
response of a multitude. These answers are 



Organic Union. 



9 



anticipated, as they have all been given before; 
and yet it must not be overlooked that they 
cover the exact points of inquiry, and seek to 
dismiss the issue without so much as consider- 
ing it. Against this summary way of dealing 
with questions of such deep significance, sol- 
emn protest is in order. Both the intelligence 
and the piety of the Church are impeached by 
it. If the result contemplated is in harmony 
with the spirit of the gospel, there can be no 
wisdom in pronouncing it an impossibility. 
" Whatever ought to be, can be," is a better 
maxim for those who believe the cardinal doc- 
trines of Methodism. 

To expect this grand consummation to be 
brought about without an effort, would be vis- 
ionary indeed. Time, study, preparation, and 
sacrifice will all be required; and this, after the 
purpose has been formed to reach the end, as 
well as in the preliminary steps that lead to 
that purpose. He who fails to appreciate the 
magnitude of the undertaking is not prepared 
for the discussion of the subject, nor to sit in 
judgment on the issue when it is presented. 
No thoughtful person will look upon it as other 



io American Methodism. 

than an enterprise of proportions equal to any- 
thing heretofore attempted in the history of re- 
ligious denominations. 

Perhaps the first point to be studied is the 
question which will arise in many minds as to 
whether the consolidation is really desirable. 
Some declare that it is not. If this opinion is 
conscientiously entertained by any considerable 
numbers, and represents a judgment formed 
after weighing the facts and principles involved, 
while it can not be conclusive as to the merits 
of the question, it is nevertheless entitled to 
respectful consideration. The reasons alleged in 
its support indicate the existence of apprehen- 
sions that so great a denomination would be liable 
to corruption ; that it would lose the evangelical 
spirit; that it would be unable to maintain 
soundness of doctrine; that it would fail to en- 
force discipline, so as to uphold the proper 
standard of morality ; that its fellowship would 
be sought by worldly men for unworthy ends; 
and, finally, that it would become a great polit- 
ical power, and prove dangerous to the liberties 
of the country. There is enough in these sug- 
gestions to cause hesitancy in adopting an op- 



Organic Union. 



i i 



posite view; and yet it is not improbable that 
those who have concluded differently have al- 
ready hesitated long enough to look into the 
face of the supposed dangers, and to see what- 
ever of force or probability there is in them. 
It is well for those who still hesitate to inquire 
to what extent they are governed by worldly 
wisdom, and whether they give full play to their 
faith in the divine element in the gospel, and 
whether they recognize the providential agency 
in directing the affairs of the Church. Are we 
to conclude that the Church can only be kept 
true to her mission while she is small in num- 
bers, weak in influence, and hampered with 
rivalries and competitions? Must she be rent 
into fragments in order to keep alive her evan- 
gelizing power? Is it necessary that she be 
torn with schisms in order to avoid cherishing 
heresies? Are we to believe that her ability to 
enforce the morality of the New Testament is 
limited to a small number of communicants? 
Did our Divine Redeemer mistake the conditions 
of human society when he prayed that his dis- 
ciples might be one? 

There is danger in this discussion, it is ad- 



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American Methodism. 



mitted, of falling into the illogical method of 
applying principles which belong to the spirit- 
ual household of faith to our denominational 
affairs. The Scriptural doctrine of the unity of 
the Church is easily interpreted in the spiritual 
sense. It is not claimed that the lines of our 
ecclesiastical structures can be made to quad- 
rate with those of the kingdom of God. The 
"one fold" of the "one Shepherd" is larger 
than all the Methodisms in the world. This is 
freely conceded; yet unnecessary divisions of 
the Church are to be deplored. They tend to 
unhealthful rivalries, weakness, and waste of 
resources that ought to be conserved for the en- 
hancement of religious power. 

There has never been a division in Method- 
ism that was not felt to be a calamity. In every 
instance the leaders in the movement resulting 
in division professed reluctance and sadness in 
going out. They thought it the last resort to 
secure redress of grievances or rights that were 
in jeopardy. They are entitled to credit for sin- 
cerity and good intentions. Then, it must be 
that, in the judgment of all parties, with all 
personal rights reasonably guaranteed, union is 



Organic Union. 



13 



better than division. This is as true to-day 
as it has ever been. One great Church, with 
all the dangers that arise from its greatness, is 
better than any number of small Churches of 
the same doctrine and usages, comprising the 
same membership, and reaching the same com- 
munities. If division is deplorable, union is 
desirable. Fraternity means brotherhood, and 
wherever there is brotherhood enough to justify 
fraternal relations between Churches of the 
same faith and order, there is enough to justify 
and require the most strenuous efforts to re- 
move divisions, and to establish that highest 
type of fraternity which most nearly expresses 
the spirit of unity for which all true disciples 
earnestly pray. 

If unnecessary divisions of Methodism are 
to be deplored as calamities, as all concede, it 
can hardly be denied that the unnecessary con- 
tinuance of old divisions, after the causes and 
occasions of division have been removed, is 
equally deplorable. 

This statement is pivotal. It is purposely 
guarded. In it lies the essence of the great 
issue. What constitutes the " necessary " or 



r 4 



American Methodism. 



" unnecessary continuance of old divisions?" It 
is conceivable that complications may arise after 
the division, which may render reunion difficult 
or undesirable, independently of all relations to 
the original causes of division. Have such 
complications arisen in any case, or with any of 
the Churches which have gone out from the 
original Methodism of America? This involves 
questions of fact, to be canvassed in studying 
the relations of particular Churches. 

Possibly another question is antecedent to 
this. Have the causes of division been suffi- 
ciently removed to call for this question of sub- 
sequent complications? The categorical "yes" 
or " no " will not be a satisfactory answer; nor 
will the opinion of one who never believed there 
was any sufficient cause for division be accepted 
as of any weight. The historical review is in- 
dispensable. In case of the minor divisions it 
is brief. The first division on the slavery ques- 
tion occurred about a half century ago. It 
took out of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
some excellent people, whose extreme anti-slav- 
ery sentiments moved them to secede because 
they could not fellowship pro-slavery Church 



Organic Union. 



15 



members. They formed the Wesley an Con- 
nection. When slavery was abolished, many of 
the leaders of the body returned. They were 
cordially received. In their return no dispar- 
agement or dishonor followed them. This " Con- 
nection " adopted other principles at variance 
with the mother Methodism, but nothing in- 
volving questions of conscience. They opposed 
episcopacy, declared against secret societies, 
etc., and made quite a showing of differences. 
But the episcopacy which they condemned never 
existed in Methodism. Their zeal burned 
against prelacy, autocracy, and all Romanistic 
tendencies; but there is nothing in "our epis- 
copacy " to merit the denunciations poured out 
upon such evils. In their differences from us 
with regard to episcopacy there is nothing but 
matters of opinion or preference — nothing what- 
ever that can justify division. In our Church 
there has always been the largest liberty on the 
subject of secret societies. Some of our mem- 
bers belong to them, and others oppose them 
heartily. It has never been made a subject of 
ecclesiastical action. The Church binds no 
one's conscience in this respect, nor interferes 



1 6 American Methodism. 

with tlie liberty of members beyond the require- 
ment of correctness of faith and life. It is 
therefore plain that there is no substantial 
reason for the continued existence of this small 
and uninfluential body of Methodists. The 
present generation knows very little of the old 
" radical " controversy which related to the 
formation of the Methodist Protestant Church t 
For many years it agitated Methodism through 
all her borders. The heat and bitterness attend- 
ing it resulted more from the ardent tempera- 
ments of the men engaged in it than from the 
serious character of the issues involved. To us 
it now seems as if the points in dispute might 
have been considered dispassionately. The 
chief question related to lay representation. 
That is now a thing of the past. Lay represen- 
tation came in time, and the unsettled details 
will be adjusted without friction. The Meth- 
odist Protestant body also became non-episco- 
pal. Its opposition to the office of bishop was 
intense, not to say violent. The kind of epis- 
copacy that called forth its severest anathemas 
existed only in the heated imaginations of those 
who gave to fancy's wing the largest freedom. 



Organic Union. 



17 



The administrative office as it exists, in fact, 
has but little in it that alarms the Methodist 
Protestants of to-day. At least it does not pre- 
sent a question of conscience. The attempt to 
build up a strong non-episcopal Methodist 
Church has had a fair trial, and has not been 
such an eminent success as to warrant a con- 
tinuance or a repetition. There is scarcely room 
left for the pretense that Episcopal Methodism 
does not furnish all needed spiritual advantages 
to all who believe Methodist doctrines. Nor is 
there any reason why Methodists should fear 
oppression under her " rules and regulations." 
With a government strong enough to assume 
efficiency, and liberal enough to afford the full- 
est religious freedom to all communicants, she 
offers the gospel to all classes, and a spiritual 
home to all who desire to work out their sal- 
vation. 

In addition to the Churches named, there 
are several other Methodist bodies in the country 
striving for a precarious existence, and endeav- 
oring to do the work of Methodism in good 
earnest, it may be conceded, but under great 
disadvantages. The Free Methodists, the Prim- 



1 8 American Methodism. 



itive Methodists, and .the Congregational or 
Independent Methodists, all have their differ- 
ences, and especially their divergences from the 
Methodist Episcopal Church; but their differ- 
ences are matters of opinion and preference 
merely, and not of such character as to involve 
conscience. It can not be that their separa- 
tion from the great body of Methodists is es- 
sential to their happiness or to their advance- 
ment in grace; and certainly it can not be 
promotive of any interest of spiritual Chris- 
tianity. If all who love the Lord could learn 
to allow conscience full play in the realm of 
morals, and never force it into the sphere of 
opinions — where there ought to be freedom — 
the cause of God and of Church unity would be 
greatly served. 

This reference to the minor divisions is 
made for illustration, as well as to express an 
honest belief with regard to them. Their in- 
dependence as Churches is unquestionably their 
right; but, in the present condition of religious 
knowledge, it is extremely difficult to justify 
their separate existence. There is nothing vital 
in any one of them that is not in the Methodist 



Organic Union. 



19 



Episcopal Church — in doctrine, discipline, spirit- 
ual life, or moral teaching. But the reader will 
anticipate correctly that the chief purpose of 
this writing is to consider the larger division of 
the Church — the sorest in Methodist history — 
and to study the question of reunion in relation 
to the Methodist Episcopal Church and the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This is to 
be the burden of our theme, as it is the burden 
of many hearts in thought and prayer. 



II. 



TN the late Ecumenical Conference, when the 
* subject of " co-operation " was under consid- 
eration, there were some expressions made in 
favor of the organic union of the different Meth- 
odisms. The strongest utterances came from 
representatives of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. This was proper; for the oldest and 
strongest should first speak, and give encour- 
agement to the others to follow. 

It was noticeable that the representatives of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, re- 
mained silent on that occasion, so far as organic 
union was concerned. From that silence, and 
from the comments afterward made in their 
papers, it is readily inferred that those in posi- 
tion to direct public sentiment in the Southern 
Church are opposed to the agitation of this sub- 
ject. For years past there has been a studied 
effort on their part to avoid this discussion. 
They believe it unwise, and they are entitled to 
the freest exercise of their opinion without the 

20 



Organic Union. 



21 



slightest impeachment of their motives. They 
see things as some of us do not. We only ask 
that they permit us to differ from them as 
widely and as sincerely as they differ from us. 
But this permission involves a difficulty. The 
liberty we ask is to speak, when they prefer that 
we do not speak. In this we can not please 
them, and yet follow the behest of duty as that 
behest comes to us. Let it be understood, then, 
that we speak for ourselves only, and not for 
them. Indeed, as before said, this writer speaks 
for himself alone, and not in any sense for his 
Church. 

There is little probability that organic 
union with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, will ever be consummated without a 
pretty thorough sifting of the old issues. Can 
this be done without fighting the old battles 
over again ? Is it possible to review the history 
of the division, and reach a common under- 
standing of the facts, so as to lay the founda- 
tion for adjustment, without arousing the old 
passions and prejudices which played so large a 
part in the disruption ? If the answer is nega- 
tive, it proves nothing as to the merits of the 



22 



American Methodism. 



case, but only that more time and grace are 
needed in order to meet the high obligation. 
With some of us it is a settled conviction that 
a candid discussion of honest differences be- 
tween Christian people can be so conducted as 
to contribute to peace and harmony, rather than 
to strife and discord. If not, why not? What 
is our Christianity worth if it does not give us 
grace to do this thing? 

Let us interpret the silence which has so 
long prevailed, and which some still insist upon 
maintaining. Does it mean that there is no 
feeling on the subject? Rather does it not 
mean that there is some intangible influence in 
the atmosphere of the Churches, manifested 
now and then in tentative questionings, which 
is producing beneath the surface a quiet growth 
of sentiment in favor of a better understanding 
between dissevered brethren? In the experience 
of pastors it has been found that where Church 
feuds have alienated brethren for a long time, 
the old enmities had died out before the parties 
were aware of it ; that both had wearied of the 
estrangement, and desired reconciliation; that 
nothing was wanting but that each should be 



Organic Union. 



23 



apprised of the feeling of the other party, and 
that as soon as this point was reached, the ad- 
justment of differences was easy. There is no 
reason to doubt that substantially this condition 
of things exists among the members of the two 
branches of Methodism to-day. Whatever the 
feeling of the leaders, the people have no desire 
to perpetuate the alienation. Up to this time 
neither party has expressed its deepest convic- 
tions — probably because no one fully understands 
the sentiments of his neighbors; or it maybe 
because no one has felt authorized to speak for 
the Church as a whole. Whatever the cause of 
the prevailing silence, the inference is not 
forced that the absence of discussion indicates 
the existence of a reserved conviction that the 
people need only leadership to induce them to 
demand the removal of the alienations of the 
past, and the restoration of genuine Methodist 
fellowship with all the branches of the Meth- 
odist family. 

With the great mass of the membership of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church there is scarcely 
any consciousness of alienation. They have 
never entered into the old disputes, and have in- 



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American Methodism. 



herited no element of bitterness from the agita- 
tions which rent the body before they were 
active in Church-life. Not one in a thousand 
has the slightest prejudice to overcome in ac- 
cording to the members of the Southern Church 
the fullest recognition and fellowship. When 
their attention is called to it, they simply wofi- 
der why there is a Southern Church. It can be 
assumed, therefore, that our people are ready for 
the reunion whenever it shall be brought about ; 
and it is equally true that they are not fretted 
because of the delay. They are in condition to 
look at the subject without bias, to take the 
broadest view that can be presented, and to act 
dispassionately and in the most catholic spirit. 
It is not improbable that a similar condition 
of things exists in large sections of the Southern 
Church. The members are in that Church be- 
cause it is to them the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In thought and feeling they are simply 
Methodists. Between them and our people 
there is no barrier to fellowship. Why should 
there be ? The people never divided the Church. 
In all the agitations that led to the division, the 
people were scarcely heard. The preachers took 



Organic Union. 



25 



the lead. They created prejudices in the minds 
of the people, and aroused evil passions in many 
of them, till they felt, as they wished to feel, 
that they had the people behind them. The 
preachers were responsible for the rupture, and 
they are responsible for the continuance of the 
opposition to reunion, so far as such opposition 
exists. To them belongs whatever of praise or 
blame should be awarded for the separate or- 
ganization of Methodism. The preachers, in 
the pulpit and in the press, possess the means 
of promoting or of repressing discussion, and 
they are fully able to control popular sentiment 
in the Church. Hitherto they have not been 
slow to exercise this ability. When the time 
arrives to make an appeal in behalf of reunion, 
that appeal must be to the ministry, if it be ef- 
fective, and not to the laity. What the preachers 
desire in this respect, they can secure. The 
people are right in heart. They look to the 
ministry for leadership and instruction, and fol- 
low gladly in all lines of religious activity and 
Christian fellowship. There is therefore no 
necessity for those in leading positions in the 

Church to await the movement of the people in 

3 



26 



American Methodism. 



the matter of discussing the desirability and the 
practicability of reunion. 

It is easy to believe what one desires to be- 
lieve. When convinced that reunion is desir- 
able ; that the old breach ought to be healed ; 
that a united Methodism is better than a divided 
Methodism; that the consolidation would en- 
hance the power of the Church, increase her fa- 
cilities for doing good, and in every way con- 
duce to the success of the ministry and the 
happiness of the people, the practical difficulties 
in the way of accomplishing the result will 
diminish with amazing rapidity. With both 
Churches anxious to come into the new relation, 
there would develop such skill in solving prob- 
lems, and such readiness in devising schemes of 
adjustment, as to astonish those whose faith 
falters at the suggestion of so formidable an un- 
dertaking. 

The fact is not overlooked that the consoli- 
dation would touch the episcopacy, the Book 
Concerns, the secretaryships, the editorships, 
and all Church boards. Corporations, vested 
rights, charters, wills, legacies, endowments, 
and numerous questions of titles and legal obli- 



Organic Union. 



27 



gations will figure in the negotiations. It is not 
pleasant to suppose that the effect of the re- 
union on the prospects of official promotion will 
be a factor of any seriousness in a matter so far- 
reaching in spiritual results. Would that this 
thought might be dismissed altogether ! But how 
can it be? Under the guise of a laudable am- 
bition to be useful, preachers do aspire to oc- 
cupy positions which will give them a wider 
field for the exercise of their abilities. They 
were either more or less than human if they did 
not. Sometimes the laudable and the selfish 
ambitions are scarcely distinguishable. It is 
possible that this very thought of official ad- 
vancement will insinuate itself into some minds, 
and bias their judgments, even when they are 
unconscious of any selfish motives. In such 
cases the difficulties to be overcome will appear 
insuperable. Great as they are in fact, they 
will magnify themselves immeasurably to the 
fancy. 

No effort should be made to ignore real diffi- 
culties. Whatever their nature, they should be 
studied in all their bearings. What is desired 
is not a patched-up truce, or a forced silence 



28 American Methodism. 



with reference to old enmities still rankling in 
the heart, but a genuine restoration of confi- 
dence and affection, the outcome of a thorough 
understanding. The first step toward the at- 
tainment of this end is a frank concession, each 
to the other, of motives worthy of high Christian 
character. It is not too much to assume that 
the time has come for this first step. Indeed, it 
has already been taken in the fraternity estab- 
lished. The parties stand side by side, upon 
equal ground, in brotherly relations, ready for 
the next step. That w T ill be a rehearsal of 
the agreements and disagreements between the 
Churches, as an intelligent understanding of the 
differences to be adjusted can not be gained 
without a candid comparison of notes with ref- 
erence to the whole field of controversy. When 
this can be done without passion or crimination, 
real progress will be made in the direction of 
consolidation. So long as we are unable to talk 
over the past without reviving the old animos- 
ities, the time is not here for the discussion, 
much less for the union. 

As the difficulties to be overcome are neither 
few nor small, the warmest friends of the move- 



Organic Union. 



29 



ment will be the most patient. No one will 
look for the consummation in a brief space of 
time. If it be accomplished within a genera- 
tion, it may be accepted as an achievement of 
wise diplomacy and royal statesmanship, sus- 
tained by the noblest devotion to a cause which 
concerns the glory of God and the welfare of his 
kingdom. Impetuous zeal will retard, rather 
than hasten, the happy day. Before it dawns 
we shall have to look away from the human to 
the divine side of the question. The conviction 
must be wrought into our souls that God wills 
the reunion and will smile upon it. Then 
mountains will dwindle in the presence of a 
generous faith. Broad-mindedness is indispen- 
sable. Those who lead in the enterprise must 
be great enough to desire, above all earthly 
things, to bring Methodism into closer harmony 
with God's gracious purpose respecting the fu- 
ture of his kingdom. 

While men yet linger who know the history 
of the rupture, and can remember the chief 
actors in the contest, is the proper time to be- 
gin the agitation looking to the healing of 
wounds which must be healed ere the full- 



30 



American Methodism. 



orbed sun of prosperity shines upon Methodism, 
girded to fill the measure of her providential 
mission. 

There is only one source of apprehension 
concerning this discussion. It is that overzeal- 
ous partisans on either side may rush into it with 
imperfect knowledge of the facts, and say things 
in haste which were better never said. Sad if 
passion should get the start of reason. Men of 
narrow views and selfish feelings can easily 
prove themselves efficient as obstructionists. 
These are to be dreaded. But the wiser coun- 
sels will prevail in the end. There is a future 
to this Methodism of ours which reaches into 
the millenniums. Men of wisdom and faith 
look to that long future in planning the work 
of to-day. They see in it verified promises of 
the divine blessing in conquests and consum- 
mations exceeding all the calculations of the 
timid. They look for a future of toil and sacri- 
fice indeed, but for triumphs more glorious than 
any yet achieved. 

Ivet Christian men reason together as Chris- 
tian men should, and let them look hopefully 
for the blessings a united Methodism will bring ; 



Organic Union 



3i 



and, after the clouds of doubt and discord shall 
have passed away, will be seen the tardy feet of 
truth walking the highway of peace, and in her 
train all needed concessions, mutual respect, 
and ultimate oneness. 



III. 



HE study of the relations of the two 



* Churches since the division brings the con- 
clusion that the duty of initiating negotiations 
looking to formal fraternity devolved properly 
upon the Methodist Episcopal Church. This 
grew out of the proceedings of the General 
Conference of 1848, as well as out of the fact 
that she is the original body from which the 
other separated, and therefore, in the technical 
sense at least, the offended party. Ever since 
the General Conference at Pittsburg declined 
to receive the fraternal delegate sent to it from 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, all 
have conceded that the next step in that direc- 
tion should be taken by the parent body. 
Recognizing this fact, and feeling impressed 
that some advances should be made, two repre- 
sentative men of the Church, in 1870, volunta- 
rily made a friendly visit to the General Confer- 
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
That visit, although entirely informal and un- 




Organic Union. 



33 



official, produced quite a sensation in Church 
circles at the time. The distinguished visitors — 
Bishop Janes and Rev. W. Iv. Harris, D. D.— 
were treated with personal consideration becom- 
ing their rank, but the visit itself was less 
kindly received than might have been expected. 
While it produced no immediate result, and 
was severely criticized as if of a semi-official 
character, it was, nevertheless, the occasion of a 
correspondence which led to the establishment 
of fraternal relations between the Churches. 
It was the beginning of an adjustment of differ- 
ences, which, it is hoped, will go on till the last 
vestige of strife and discord shall be removed 
forever. 

The action of the Cape May Commission 
was another important step in the right direc- 
tion. It has not accomplished all that was 
hoped from it, but its influence has made for 
peace. It was possibly without design that in 
the work of that Commission, the first indis- 
pensable condition of negotiations for organic 
union was met. The Southern Church de- 
manded recognition as a legitimate branch of 
Episcopal Methodism. This was conceded by 



34 American Methodism. 

the representatives of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; and the concession places the two 
Churches side by side as equals, without regard 
to disputed points in the steps of progress to- 
wards the status of equality. It may be that 
our Southern brethren attach more importance 
to the phrase, " legitimate branch of Episcopal 
Methodism,'' than we do. Whether they do or 
not, will appear in the developments of the 
future. It does not convey to us the idea that 
that Church is a part of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, or that its organization was 
authorized by any action of the General Con- 
ference of 1844. Its " legitimacy " consists in 
the fact that it has come to be, de facto, an in- 
dependent Church, with all the equipments 
essential to an organized branch of Episcopal 
Methodism. There is no more occasion for 
doubting its legitimacy in this respect than for 
disputing its independence. 

The Centennial Conference of Episcopal 
Methodism, in 1884, in the city of Baltimore, 
furnished an admirable proof of the possibility 
of thorough fellowship. The associations of 
that occasion will linger long in the memory of 



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35 



the participants. The late Ecumenical Confer- 
ence, in Washington City, was cordial in 
brotherliness, although not particularly inspir- 
ing to hopefulness in the direction of organic 
union. These, together with the cheerful cor- 
diality with which fraternal delegates are re- 
ceived in both General Conferences, may be taken 
as evidences of a mutual desire on the part of the 
Churches to get rid of all causes of friction, and 
to come to such agreements as will assure 
recognition and co-operation in the working 
field, as well as in the great ecclesiastical as- 
semblies. This, after all, is the test of fra- 
ternity. 

The progress already made toward the bet- 
ter understanding has not been secured without 
concessions. Most of these have been made 
by the older to the younger, by the parent body 
to the new branch of Episcopal Methodism 
which was organized in 1845. The Church has 
not suffered in consequence. Neither her honor 
nor her dignity has been impaired ; and, when 
the time comes for other advances, the magna- 
nimity of the Methodist Episcopal Church will 
be equal to all requirements for generous deal- 



36 



American Methodism. 



ing with any branch of the Methodist family 
that seeks more intimate relations. She will 
not wait to be sought, but will seek the oppor- 
tunity to encourage the consultations necessarily 
precedent to open negotiations for closer union. 
She can not afford not to hold herself ready for 
such consultations. The only attitude becom- 
ing her greatness is that of willingness to con- 
cede all that can be done consistently with her 
honor and integrity, to heal the wounds of the 
past, to diminish antagonisms, and restore 
unity, whenever unity will contribute to the en- 
largement of the power and the increase of the 
efficiency of Methodism. With her the cause 
for which she stands is everything. Methodism 
is in her thought synonymous with evangelical 
Christianity ; and yet she has not the bigotry to 
claim a monopoly of either the one or the other. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, like the 
larger Methodism, is cosmopolitan in spirit, and 
can not afford to forfeit that character. She 
stands for the salvation of the race. Within 
her pale are peoples of many nationalities, com- 
plexions, and languages. These are all her 
children, having equal rights under her laws, 



Organic Union. 



37 



and sharing equal privileges. She seeks the 
salvation of none whom she will not admit to 
her fellowship. Herein is her greatness and 
her strength. Her principles, which guarantee 
to her membership equality of rights, are funda- 
mental. While she would gladly lead all 
branches of Methodism into unity, she can not 
lower her standard for the accommodation of any 
prejudices against race or color. The only 
ground broad enough and solid enough for her 
to stand upon, whether alone or in unity with 
other Methodisms, is the Golden Rule doctrine 
of equal rights in the kingdom of God. All 
who come into fraternity with her, or into closer 
union, come with full knowledge of her record, 
and knowing that she can not recede from the 
high ground taken. 

Her interpretation of equality of rights is 
practical rather than technical. She has no 
sympathy with fanaticism. When the Germans, 
and other peoples of foreign tongues, prefer 
ministers and Conferences of their own, they 
are accommodated. When her people of color 
desire congregations and ministers of their own, 
and separate Conferences, these favors are 



38 



American Methodism. 



granted. Their separation into distinct Con- 
ferences is in pursuance of their preferences, 
and not a disparagement. In the General Con- 
ference there is no distinction because of color 
or language ; nor is there any distinction in the 
spiritual privileges of the Church, or in legal 
rights. It is not improbable that this breadth 
and catholicity will prove a serious obstacle in 
the way of the contemplation of organic union, 
although it is difficult to understand why it 
should be any more of a barrier in that respect 
than it is to formal fraternity. Hereditary biases 
are always peculiar, as well as stubborn. There 
is nothing harder to control than prejudice, per- 
haps because it never reasons. It was a blind- 
ing power in the disciples of our Lord while he 
was with them, and after his ascension. It took 
them nearly seven years after Pentecost to un- 
derstand their duty to go to the Gentiles ; and 
this with the world-wide commission fresh in 
mind as it fell from the lips of the Master, and 
the Holy Ghost within them as he was after 
the tongues of fire crowned their heads. It was 
not till after Peter's vision of the " great sheet," 
and his journey to Caesarea, that the strange 



Organic Union. 



39 



and unsuspected truth dawned upon him that 
"God is no respecter of persons;" nor did any 
of the others gain that knowledge till after 
Peter expounded the vision to them. But when 
the bonds of their Jewish prejudices were 
broken, and the grandeur of God's purpose of 
love to the nations was apprehended, they were 
ready to proclaim the gospel to all men of every 
language and complexion, and to fellowship all 
whose conversion they sought. 

Conference fraternity is of little value if it 
is followed by bickerings, rivalries, crowdings, 
and overreachings in the actual working of the 
Churches in the same vicinity. It is in the 
congregations and homes of the people, where 
Christian work is done and where Christian 
fellowship has its purest manifestations, that 
genuine fraternity is to be fostered and brought 
to maturity. There, if anywhere, is to be laid 
the foundation of organic union, and there must 
be wrought the necessary antecedent prepa- 
ration. 

It is useless to talk about the union of the 
Churches till both people and preachers are im- 
pressed that it will be advantageous to all con- 



40 



American Methodism. 



cerned. But the people are more easily con- 
vinced than the preachers. With them fraternity 
means all that the term implies. The thing 
needed is a profound conviction that Methodism 
united will be more powerful and successful 
than it can be in a divided condition. It seems 
strange that such a conviction is not universal. 
But there are some things to which all agree, 
both preachers and people, in all sections of the 
Church. No one doubts that Methodists ought 
to be fraternal. All rejoice that the bitterness 
engendered by obsolete controversies is dying 
out. All agree that if union comes it must be 
reached upon a basis honorable to all, and as 
the result of an inward persuasion which is so 
nearly universal as to be positively dominating. 
Every one will concede that the movement, in 
order to be either desirable or successful, must 
be as nearly spontaneous as is possible — the 
outgoing of a conviction rooted in Christian 
sentiment and controlling the consciousness of 
duty. When such a preparation comes, union 
will follow as naturally as ripened fruit drops to 
the earth. 

The state of mind best calculated to hasten 



Organic Union. 



41 



this preparation, and to bring the people to 
right conclusions with reference to a subject so 
vast and many-sided, is an . intense desire to 
know the will of God, and to do it at whatever 
sacrifice of preference, taste, or previously cher- 
ished opinions. The paramount aim must be 
to secure the approval of God ; for without that, 
all human appliances will prove worthless in 
the conflict with worldliness and unbelief — a con- 
flict whose fierceness will not diminish as the 
agencies of truth develop new capabilities. 
Methodism has always claimed to be the child 
of Providence ; and if this claim be valid, 
providential indications must be accepted as 
authoritative, and be followed with unshrinking 
courage and loyalty. 

God's great plans mature slowly. He is 
never hurried by human impatience. Why, 
then, should we be faithless because the prepa- 
ration for reunion seems long delayed? Meth- 
odism was the first of the Churches to break 
her unity on the rock of slavery, and it may be 
that she will be the last to restore it. In her 
very greatness there are complications not found 

in smaller Churches. Let no one be discouraged 

4 



42 



American Methodism. 



because time is required. It is usually true 
that much more time is consumed in prepa- 
ration for great events than in their achieve- 
ment; and in providential plans it often hap- 
pens that the larger part of the preparatory 
work is done without design on the part of 
those who do it, and by those who least in- 
tended to contribute to that end. No one ex- 
pects the union of Methodism without provi- 
dential agency, and no one can be certain that 
even his present indifference or opposition may 
not be used to hasten the consummation. In 
many ways it is true that "the wrath of man 
shall praise Him." 

If God is in it, who shall be against it? No 
one can doubt that the removal of alienations 
between brethren, the building up of mutual 
confidence and love in the Church, the joining 
together of hearts and hands and means for the 
evangelization of the nations, will accord with 
the Divine will. Then, if God works in provi- 
dential plans in harmony with his declared will, 
and in the direction in which his Holy Spirit, 
dwelling within, always draws, he does work 
for the union of believers in all things helpful 



Organic Union. 



43 



to the Christian life and Christian activity. 
Those who stand in the way of such union as 
God approves, withstand the Spirit's drawings, 
and obstruct providential plans. If used as 
instrumentalities for enlarging the Church and 
giving wider scope to gospel influences, it is by 
that higher wisdom which overrules the selfish 
purposes of men to do better than they intended. 
Far better that we be willing workers together 
with God in the direct line of his graciously 
manifested pleasure. 



IV. 



TT is probably true, in all public agitations of 
* questions in dispute, that some amusing 
things are to be expected — things which are not 
intended for amusement. Extreme partisans, 
in the heat of anxiety to sustain a dubious 
proposition, will say things seriously which, at 
other times, will appear to themselves, as to 
others, to be exceedingly ludicrous. 

To those acquainted with the facts in the 
case, a striking illustration of this remark ap- 
pears in the position taken by the representa- 
tives of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
when they gravely asserted that slavery was not 
the " cause,' ' but only the " occasion, " of the di- 
vision of the Church. Those not familiar with 
the discussions which preceded and followed the 
rupture of 1845 will be tempted to suppose 
that this could not have been more than an in- 
cidental remark, put forth in the excitement of 
controversy, and that by some unofficial or irre- 
sponsible disputant ; but not so. It was the 
44 



Organic Union. 45 

position deliberately chosen and formally stated 
by the highest officials, in sober correspondence 
with representatives of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church; so that we' are compelled to disregard 
its ludicrous aspects, and treat it as presumably 
containing something important. We do it 
cheerfully, because it is a delight to give to those 
who differ from us the full benefit of their own 
statements. 

We confess, however, to an inability to dis- 
cover the special advantage accruing from this 
position. If we mistake not the intention of 
the distinction between the cause and the occa- 
sion of the division, it is to prepare the way foi 
the allegation that the "cause" of the trouble 
was the agitation of the subject in the Northern 
States; or, in other words, that Abolitionism, 
and not slavery, caused the breach. . The brief- 
est answer would be that but for slavery there 
would have been no Abolitionism and no agita- 
tion on the subject. To unbiased minds this 
answer is quite sufficient. There was an un- 
pleasant condition of things in the Conferences 
in the slaveholding States. The Methodist 
people, as well as others, had become exceed- 



4 6 



American Methodism'. 



ingly sensitive and restless because of the grow- 
ing anti-slavery sentiment of the country, which 
was making itself felt in all sections, and made 
no promise of abatement. There is no doubt 
that it was hard for slaveholders to maintain 
loyalty to the General Conference, when it was 
known that the majority of that body was op- 
posed to slavery and disposed to make effective 
the Disciplinary obligation to use all lawful 
means to extirpate the evil of that insti- 
tution. 

It is well known that the pro-slavery spirit was 
never able to brook opposition. There was dis- 
quietude, and slavery and the dread of the agi- 
tation caused it, without doubt. Slavery, by its 
arrogance, rendered the agitation unavoidable. 
Slavery was therefore both the "cause" and the 
"occasion" of the division. The wonder is 
that anybody questions it. Without slavery in 
the country, there would have been neither 
cause nor occasion for any agitation on the sub- 
ject, and there is not the slightest reason to sup- 
pose that in its absence any sectional animosities 
could have arisen to disturb the harmony of the 
denomination. Slavery divided the Church, and 



Organic Union. 



47 



then sought to divide the Nation, and died. 
Who shall mourn its departure? 

Having ascertained the cause of the division, 
as nearly as it can be understood, it # will be 
necessary, in reviewing the beginning and prog- 
ress of the unhappy event, to consider the ac- 
tion of the Church prior to the division, so as 
to find out to what extent and in what respect 
the whole Church was responsible for the catas- 
trophe. At this day it is not an assumption of 
superior wisdom to assert that the General 
Conference of 1844 made a mistake in passing 
the so-called "Plan of Separation." It acted in 
good faith and according to the best light avail- 
able at the time. In order to interpret its ac- 
tion we must study its intention and motive. 
We can do this now as it could not have been 
done then. The light of history has come to 
us, dispelling both the illusions and the de- 
lusions under which the action was taken, and 
has revealed the pent-up passions of the friends 
of slavery as the judgment of charity did not 
at that time permit godly men to believe them 
possible. 

There is no question as to what the General 



48 American Methodism, 



Conference did. The record is clear. It passed 
an act which was subsequently called a "Plan 
of Separation. " A complete and accurate un- 
derstanding of that act is all-important. We 
interpret it one way, and our brethren of the 
South interpret it differently. In any future 
discussion, when we sit down together to com- 
pare notes, these different interpretations will be 
turned over and over again, till each shall ap- 
preciate the views of the other party. 

We confess that the' General Conference 
made a mistake ; but we do not rest the cause 
of the old Church on that fact. What was 
done, was done ; and, mistake as it was, we 
stand by the action taken. If we can not de- 
fend the course of the Church with that action 
standing in all the legal force that it ever ac- 
quired, it is needless to attempt its defense at 
all. Our Southern brethren will acknowledge 
the Ifairness of this. Then we shall be com- 
pelled to study the legal aspects of the so-called 
"Plan of Separation." It is not safe to assume 
that it became binding on the Church simply 
because it passed the General Conference. Its 
nature, intent, and its relation to the constitu- 



Organic Union. 



49 



tion of the General Conference, must all be 
taken into the account. All this will be done in 
that future, friendly discussion which we are an- 
ticipating. For the present it is enough to state 
the case in general terms. 

The famous so-called " Plan of Separation'' 
was not a "plan of separation" at all. It had 
no such purpose. There is little doubt that our 
Southern brethren will differ from this state- 
ment most radically. The history they have 
made demands it. What they assert has been 
heard and considered, and it is in the face of all 
they have said, or can say, that this position is 
taken. The General Conference of 1844 neither 
divided the Church, nor authorized its division. 
It made one great mistake, but it did not do the 
dreadful thing so often attributed to it. Its 
mistake consisted in making any official recog- 
nition of the probability or possibility of a sub- 
sequent division or rupture, which was threat- 
ened. It heard the intimations, and it sought 
to avert the calamity if possible ; and if not 
possible, then to reduce the disaster to the min- 
imum by marking out a way to avoid all avoid- 
able friction. With this in view, it adopted the 

5 



50 



American Methodism. 



report of the committee, which is the famous 
"Plan." It was simply an outline of conces- 
sions to be made in the event the Southern 
Conferences should resort to the extreme act of 
separation. It did not induce that act, nor 
authorize it, nor approve it; but anticipated it, 
and sought to provide against avoidable evils. 

There were ominous mutterings in the air. 
The most serious results often flow from the no- 
blest sentiments slightly misapplied— a fact 
which suggests caution in accepting the action 
of the Church as necessarily correct when taken 
in times of excitement. The wisest of men, in 
such condition, are liable to biases which come 
from imperfect knowledge, dominant prejudices, 
or a predisposition to escape rugged issues by 
compromise. It is easy to discern the presence, 
at the time in question, of several agencies cal- 
culated to darken counsel and incline the actors 
to provisional adjustments which did not express 
the ultimate wish of either party. The action 
taken was a provisional compromise, conditioned 
on events predicted on one side as liable to 
come to pass unless some such action were 
taken, and which all deplored and pledged 



Organic Union. 



51 



themselves to avert if possible. The motives of 
those who yielded to the pressure put upon 
them by the persistent predictions of disaster in 
the form of division or secession, have not been 
called in question. They deplored the rupture 
only less than the surrender of principle in re- 
lation to the chief and only cause of the dis- 
quietude. If they felt the breath of the gather- 
ing storm, and quailed as they looked upon its 
angry brow, they stood boldly for the right in 
principle, while they went to the verge of the 
allowable in their efforts to conciliate the disaf- 
fected. It is no disparagement of their wisdom 
or loyalty to hold that the results of their con- 
cessions prove to us that a higher wisdom would 
have refused compromise, and thrown the whole 
responsibility upon the dissatisfied. The rup- 
ture could not have come more certainly, and 
would not have been more violent, while the ne- 
cessity of bearing the responsibility, without any 
shadow of authorization, might have sobered the 
judgment and moderated the passions of those 
who marched at the head of the outgoing pro- 
cession. 

Conceding the mistake of the General Con- 



52 



American Methodism. 



ference in passing the report which has been 
construed as authorizing the division of the 
Church, it is important to consider to what ex- 
tent that action bound the Church, and whether 
the conditions underlying it were so met as to 
give it legal force in the actual disruption. We 
shall see that the conditions were not met, and 
that it never was lawfully carried into effect; 
but, for the present, it is confessed that there 
was in it the appearance of authority for di- 
vision enough to impress those unacquainted 
with its history, and unfamiliar with the pecu- 
liarities of the constitution of the General Con- 
ference and the limitations of its power, with 
the idea that the subsequent proceedings of the 
Southern Conferences w r ere in pursuance of au- 
thority given them by the General Conference. 
The real issue with the Southern Church is at 
this point. That Church holds that the appar- 
ent authorization was real; that the "Plan" was 
legal, and became effective ; that the whole 
Church was bound by it ; and that, conse- 
quently, the division was legitimate, and not a 
secession. In confirmation of this claim, appeal 
is made to the decision of the United States 



Organic Union. 



53 



Court, which held that the Southern Church 
was entitled to its share of the property of the 
Book Concern. We concede that the court de- 
cision was favorable to that Church, and that, so 
far as it touched the legality of the "Plan," it 
sustained it. In all this there is nothing to con- 
travene the view expressed with reference to the 
conditionality of the so-called " Plan," and its fail- 
ure to become binding as an act of the Church. 
The decision of the court was reached after the 
consummation of the division, and largely on the 
ground of equity, which was scarcely disputed. 
The court itself, as is well known, was in strong 
sympathy with Southern sentiments on the 
slavery issue; so that it is not hard to show 
that the legal decision never represented the 
meaning of the General Conference. Beyond 
the legal issue before it, the dictum of the 
court was extra-judicial, and of no force as an 
interpretation of the action of the General Con- 
ference. The Church promptly accepted the 
decision of the court, and acknowledged its 
substantial justice in relation to the property 
question; but the people who knew the facts 
were far from accepting its dictum as decisive 



54 American Methodism. 

with reference to the binding character of the 
so-called "Plan of Separation." The delegates 
in the General Conference, who were actors in 
the construction and adoption of that document, 
were quite as competent as any civil tribunal 
to determine whether or not it was a com- 
pleted action; and they could not, if they would, 
at the behest of any popnlar clamor, sink their 
own intelligence in the presence of any extra- 
judicial declaration. They well knew that, 
while all the facts and considerations which 
controlled the General Conference were not in 
the record and could not be made tangible to 
the court, there were material conditions under- 
stood by the delegates, which secured the adop- 
tion of the "Plan," and which were so utterly- 
disregarded after its adoption that not even 
the semblance of an effort to comply with them 
could be alleged. 

The majority of the delegates supposed they 
had reason to believe that their fellow-delegates 
from the Southern Conferences were as anxious 
to avoid disruption as themselves. Throughout 
the debate, all references to it as a possibility 
had been made in the language of deprecation. 



Organic Union. 



55 



It was treated as a prospective calamity, rather 
than as a desired outcome of strained relations. 
There was, therefore, a general expectation that 
the Southern delegates would return to their 
homes and Conferences with the loyalty they 
professed, and use their influence to allay the 
excitement that was supposed to exist, and do 
all they could to induce the Conferences to 
continue their allegiance to the Church. This 
was understood to be pledged in connection 
with the adoption of the "Plan," which has 
figured so largely as a "Plan of Separation 
and there is scarcely the shadow of a proba- 
bility that it could have been adopted without 
such pledge, expressed or implied. But the 
Southern delegates did nothing of the kind. 
They began at once the preparation for calling 
a convention to consider the situation, looking 
to the separation. It was supposed from the 
debates that the trouble was with the people, 
who would be unwilling to receive pastors sent 
to them from Conferences under the jurisdiction 
of the General Conference so strongly com- 
mitted to anti-slavery sentiments. This pro- 
visional "Plan" was to be used as proof of the 



56 



American Methodism. 



liberal disposition of the Church, and of its 
willingness to conciliate the dissatisfied, as far 
as possible, without the sacrifice of principle. 
Advantage was at once taken of this effort at 
conciliation, and the claim set up that division 
was authorized and sanctioned. Instead of the 
people rising in opposition to the authority of 
the Conferences, the preachers themselves moved 
for separation without consulting the people. 
All this, and more, will be seen in that future 
interchange of thought which we are antici- 
pating; but there are two or three other points 
that must be indicated in this preparatory out- 
line of the situation. 



V. 



TP our Southern brethren desire to keep the 
* distinction between the "cause" and the 
"occasion" of the disruption before their minds, 
and wish to be strictly accurate in its statement, 
they will recognize the fact that slavery was the 
"cause," and that the action of the General Con- 
ference in the case of Bishop Andrew was the 
"occasion," of that sad event. 

Prior to the General Conference of 1844, 
Bishop James O. Andrew married a widow who 
was the owner of a number of slaves. In this 
way he came to be a slaveholder in the eye of 
the law and of public sentiment. This relation 
to the institution was offensive to the great body 
of the Church over which he was a general 
superintendent. It was also plainly in violation 
of the law of the Church as it had been inter- 
preted from the beginning. There was no pos- 
sibility that the General Conference could pass 
without some expression of disapproval. Early 

in the session the attention of the body was 
57 



58 



American Methodism. 



called to the subject. Several lines of action 
were proposed, but the General Conference was 
not inclined to extreme measures. It finally 
passed a resolution declaring its judgment that 
it would be expedient for Bishop Andrew to de- 
sist from the exercise of episcopal functions till 
he could free himself from his objectionable re- 
lation to slavery. He was not tried, nor deposed, 
nor suspended. It was only by implication that 
he could be considered censured. Considering 
the gravity of the case, and the sensitiveness of 
the Church in large sections of the country, the 
action was extremely mild. There were Annual 
Conferences, equal in rights and dignity to any 
in the connection, that would not transact busi- 
ness with a slaveholding bishop presiding over 
them. His relation to the institution was there- 
fore an impediment to the performance of his 
duties. In reason he could expect nothing less 
than the action that was taken. But this very 
mild action was offensive to the South, and was 
made the pretext for further agitation. It was 
construed as a suspension without formal trial, 
and denounced as arbitrary and unlawful. There 
is no doubt that the impression prevails widely 



Organic Union. 



59 



in the Southern States till this day that the 
General Conference of 1844 dealt harshly with 
Bishop Andrew, transcending its legitimate 
power in order to humiliate him because of an 
innocent connection with a time-honored insti- 
tution. The people have been so taught, and 
will so believe till the exact truth is brought to 
them, which can be done only through channels 
hitherto not open for this purpose. 

The Southern delegates who participated in 
the adoption of the so-called "Plan," so far as 
was ever ascertained, made no effort to allay 
the excitement and maintain the unity of the 
Church. Their course would scarcely have been 
different if division had been a foregone conclu- 
sion, deliberately preferred, and simply awaiting 
a plausible excuse. The excuse or " occasion " 
came in the case of Bishop Andrew, and meas- 
ures were set on foot that were never contem- 
plated in the " Plan." The Louisville Convention 
was called to meet in 1845. That Convention 
was unauthorized by any action of the General 
Conference, unprovided for in the " Plan," and 
was without power to represent the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, or to do anything in her 



6o 



American Methodism. 



name, or to take any action that would in any 
sense be binding upon her as a denomination. 
It was purely a Southern affair, the creature of 
Southern Annual Conferences, with delegates 
from no other section of the Church. No effort 
had been made to reconcile the disaffected in 
those Conferences to the action of the General 
Conference; nor had time been allowed in which 
to cool the passions that had been aroused, or 
to test the question as to whether the Churches 
would submit to be served by pastors sent from 
Conferences in allegiance to the General Con- 
ference. This unauthorized Louisville Conven- 
tion was called instead, as if for the express 
purpose of thwarting the plans of the General 
Conference. The real nature of the division can 
not be comprehended without this consideration 
of the utterly unofficial and unauthorized char- 
acter of this Convention, and its absolute want 
of power in its relation to the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. 

To all this must be added another statement 
with regard to that famous "Plan," which is as 
vital as anything yet suggested. It is that, 
whatever obligations this "Plan" might have 



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61 



imposed on the Church to follow its provisions 
for adjusting affairs after the Southern Confer- 
ences had decided to leave its jurisdiction, that 
obligation could not be complete or binding till 
the provisions of the "Plan" itself, for render- 
ing the proposed settlement lawful, were carried 
out. To render that settlement lawful, accord- 
ing to the " Plan," required compliance with the 
provision for changing the constitution of the 
General Conference. The General Conference 
proposed, in the contingency now understood, 
to do certain things which the constitution 
expressly prohibited it from doing ; and there- 
fore the change of the constitution, or the sus- 
pension of its limitation, was indispensable. 
Some of the stipulations in the "Plan" ex- 
pressly required the suspension of the Restrict- 
ive Rule by the constitutional process; and in the 
absence of that suspension, which was never 
effected, and for which the Southern Conferences 
did not wait, there was no possibility of legaliz- 
ing proceedings under the "Plan." It seems to 
some of us that our brethren in the Southern 
Church have not appreciated this point ; but, in 
that brotherly discussion which is coming, they 



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American Methodism. 



will look it in the face as never before, and 
give us credit for regarding the organic law of 
the General Conference as superior to a tenta- 
tive report adopted by that body. It will be 
said, in this connection, that the force of this 
position is not so great, since the particular part 
of the " Plan," which was in terms submitted 
to the process for suspending the Restrictive 
Rule, related to the division of the Book Con- 
cern property, and not to the fixing of the geo- 
graphical line. There are two answers to this. 
The first is, that the "Plan " was a unit, and the 
failure of one essential part of it to become 
legal involved the failure of the whole. The 
suspension of the Restrictive Rule was a funda- 
mental condition of the contract, which con- 
tract could be nothing more than tentative 
while the suspension was pending, whatever 
might be done on the other side. The Louis- 
ville Convention met, and divided the Church 
as far as it could — that is, it declared the 
Southern Conferences a separate and independ- 
ent Church — before the Restrictive Rule could 
be suspended, and, therefore, before the "Plan" 
could be legalized under the law of the Church. 



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63 



Another answer is, that whatever the fate of 
the provision for suspending the Restrictive 
Rule on the property question, the act of the 
General Conference, looking to a voluntary re- 
linquishment of its jurisdiction over any part 
or section of the Church, was necessarily null 
and void, it being an act in violation of the 
constitution under which it exists and exercises 
its functions. The General Conference is a 
delegated body of limited power, acting as 
agent for constituent bodies, empowered to 
"make rules and regulations for the Church," 
but not to relegate or turn over any Annual 
Conference, or any fraction of the Church, how- 
ever small, to the jurisdiction or government of 
any other body. This principle is fundamental. 

The constitutional limitations of the General 
Conference have been studied more carefully 
since that action was taken than before. Other 
occasions have arisen to call attention to them. 
It has been decided that the body has no power 
to alter its composition, except by what is 
known as the Restrictive Rule process. It could 
not admit a layman as a delegate without that 
process; and, at the session of 1888, it was de- 



6 4 



American Methodism. 



cided, after full discussion, that it could not ad- 
mit women under the general provision for lay 
representation. How, then, could it authorize a 
division of the Church, and turn over half of its 
constituency to the jurisdiction of an entirely 
different body yet to be formed ? The thing is 
preposterous on its face. If we should admit 
that the General Conference did not take this 
view of its limitations, but really supposed itself 
competent to authorize the Southern Confer- 
ences to form a new General Conference, that 
does not alter the fact. Its ignorance of the law 
could not enhance its power, or render legal 
that which was illegal when the law is under- 
stood. It did not intend to override the consti- 
tution. It expressly provided that the Restrict- 
ive Rule process should be observed with regard 
to essential parts of the " Plan ;" and as the 
" Plan " was a unit, the failure of an essential 
part would be the failure of the whole. Nor 
was there any deception or improper dealing in 
this. The " party of the other part" was pres- 
ent, understanding all that was done, taking 
part in the proceedings, and having knowledge 
of the contingencies depending on the action of 



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65 



the Annual Conferences. The whole story is 
told when it is said that the General Conference 
ventured beyond the border of its legitimate 
power in the interest of peace ; but it neither di- 
vided the Church, nor authorized its division. 
If it had expressly provided that the Southern 
Conferences should leave its jurisdiction and set 
up for themselves, its action would have been 
null and void, being in violation of its consti- 
tution. 

Just here some one will ask, "Why this pre- 
sentation of the legal aspects of the division, in 
connection with the question of reunion ?" The 
answer is, we must understand the position that 
each has taken in the past, in order to appre- 
ciate the grounds occupied at the present. So 
long as our Southern brethren believe we made 
a law and then disregarded it, they will cherish 
towards us feelings quite obstructive of intelli- 
gent negotiations. Their people have never 
gotten a just understanding of our view of the 
legal ground on which we have stood all these 
years. They have regarded our position as that 
of truce-breakers, and their own as law-abiding. 

A full knowledge of the facts would disabuse 

6 



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American Methodism. 



tlieir minds. It would astonish them greatly, 
no doubt, but it would promote mutual respect, 
and facilitate approaches towards the better con- 
dition so ardently desired. 

It is not doubled that the Convention which 
determined the existence of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, kept the so-called "Plan 
of Separation " in view, and sought to conform 
to its outline of arrangement for the new 
Church. We may concede that it treated the 
"Plan" as a lawful thing; that it accepted it as 
a charter, and looked to it as legally authorizing 
its proceedings, and as the basis of its claim for 
a division of the property and funds of the 
Church. It may have entertained this belief, 
and acted upon it ; but its ignorance of the de- 
fect in its legality did not remedy the defect. 
No matter what the members of that Convention 
thought, the fact is both plain and stubborn that 
the " Plan" was never legally enacted under the 
constitution of the General Conference, and 
never could have been, even with the concur- 
rence of the three-fourths of the members of the 
Annual Conferences. Such a vote could lift the 
restrictions on the power of the General Confer- 



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67 



ence to make rules and regulations "for the 
Church," but it could never empower it to leg- 
islate against the Church, or to divide or de- 
stroy the Church. The conclusion is therefore 
inevitable that, legally speaking, there is no 
authority in or for the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, as a legitimate branch of Epis- 
copal Methodism older or greater than the Lou- 
isville Convention. If antecedent Annual Con- 
ference action constituted the Convention, the 
Convention constituted the Church. In that 
Convention the Methodist Episcopal Church, as 
a Church, was not represented ; and there is no 
sense in which it could be bound by the action 
of that Convention. Hence the further conclu- 
sion is inevitable, however distasteful to those 
who have never admitted it, that the act of the 
Louisville Convention in establishing a separate 
and independent Church, was nothing other 
than an act of secession. 

Notwithstanding the haste and unlawfulness 
of the proceedings culminating in that unauthor- 
ized Convention, the Methodist Episcopal Church 
was still disposed to settle all questions at issue 
according to the "Plan." It was in the act of 



68 American Methodism. 



taking the vote in the Annual Conferences on 
the suspension of the Restrictive Rule, as the 
"Plan" provided, in order to legalize as far as 
possible the division of the property, when the 
Southern Church interrupted the proceeding, 
and nullified all obligation in that direction, by 
resorting to the secular court to enforce its 
claim — a claim the mother Church was provid- 
ing to grant as rapidly as was possible under 
the constitution and under the terms of the 
"Plan." This turn of affairs, notwithstanding 
the court gave the new Church its claim, de- 
stroyed the vitality of the " Plan," if it ever had 
any vitality, and gave to the new organization 
the full character of a secession from the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. 

The story is a sad one. Its full rehearsal 
will reveal mistakes on both sides. The excess 
of passion was with those who hastened to go 
out from a jurisdiction which was odious to them 
because it antagonized slavery and refused to 
tolerate slaveholding in the episcopacy. Passion 
begets passion. The strong men of Methodism 
wept at witnessing their beloved Church torn in 
sunder by the foul spirit of slavery, and their 



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69 



righteous indignation flamed forth in words that 
burned. Strong language was inevitable. While 
slavery lived, the breach was irreparable. It 
came as a calamity, and it is a calamity still. 
Must the effect continue, now that the cause is 
removed? or is there wisdom and piety enough 
in Methodism to grapple successfully with the 
problem of restoration ? Shall the present gen- 
eration solve the problem, or shall it be trans- 
mitted to the generation following ? 

Some of us believe the time is here for be- 
ginning the solution. The great public outside 
of Methodism believes it ought to be done. It 
will not be an easy matter to meet our obliga- 
tions to the Christian sentiment of the country 
if we withstand the influences at work in society 
tending to bury the old enmities, and to bring 
into the Church and business and social life of 
the Nation that community of interest and feel- 
ing which is so becoming and so essential to the 
country's welfare. There are claims upon us as 
a Christian people that should be deemed not 
less binding than our obligation to obey our pe- 
culiar tastes and preferences in ecclesiastical 
affairs. If our devotion to antiquated social 



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American Methodism. 



prejudices prove detrimental to Christian faith 
in general, the duty is imperative to conquer 
them, even though we might individually serve 
God and get to heaven without abandoning our 
narrowness. 



VI. 



HE supposed geographical line between the 



* two Churches, and its observance, must 
have its share of attention. At one time 
it was thought to be an important part of 
the contract between the parties, if the word 
contract can be admitted with reference to the 
then existing conditions. It was perhaps as 
binding as any other part of the famous " Plan." 

That "Plan," which was from its inception 
unconstitutional, tentative, conditional, and 
never legalized, contained a provision for divid- 
ing the territory of the country, so that the 
jurisdiction of the new Church, if one should 
be formed, would be confined to such Annual 
Conferences in the slaveholding States as 
would prefer to leave the jurisdiction of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. According to the 
wording of the "Plan," it is evident that the 
line was to be a fixed boundary, over which 
neither Church was to pass. As the whole was 
intended to operate in the interest of peace, 




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American Methodism. 



this dividing line was regarded as indispensable. 
No one disputes that the General Conference of 
1844 adopted the report of a committee which 
described the line, and made it as binding as 
any other part of the "Plan." If the other 
provisions of that report had been concurred in 
by the Annual Conferences, as was contem- 
plated, and if the Southern Church had abode 
by the whole u Plan " till the final action was 
taken, the Church whose General Conference 
perpetrated the blunder of making such an 
agreement would have observed it with scrupu- 
lous fidelity. 

The Convention of the Southern Confer- 
ences, which met in Louisville, Ky., in 1845, 
and declared independence and separation from 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, adopted the 
same line, and bound the new Church by its 
action as completely as by any other action 
taken by it. The Convention, acting originally 
in the premises, unfettered by the constitutional 
limitations which bound the General Confer- 
ence of the previous year, was at liberty to es- 
tablish the line described in the General Con- 
ference action, or any other that its judgment 



Organic Union. 



73 



might dictate, as the limit of the jurisdiction of 
the new Church. It saw fit to adopt the line 
as described in the so-called u Plan," with an 
additional provision or construction that changed 
it from a fixed to a movable line. That is, it 
provided that a vote should be taken in the 
congregations bordering on the line as to 
whether they would adhere to the old Church 
or go with the new one; and when a congre- 
gation on the south side of the line should ad- 
here to the old Church, the next charge south 
would become the border, and be entitled to 
make its choice by vote. Its thought was, no 
doubt, to push the line northward, as it con- 
fidently expected some of the river towns and 
cities in Ohio and Indiana to vote to go into 
the Southern Church. 

It is not exactly clear as to how it expected 
the vote to be taken on the north side of the 
Ohio River, unless it anticipated that some of 
the preachers and congregations would be so 
strongly inclined to adhere South that they 
would voluntarily proceed to vote without wait- 
ing any Conference action or order; for it is 
hardly supposable that the members of that 

7 



74 



American Methodism. 



Convention could expect the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church to feel bound to carry out the ar- 
rangements of the Convention with reference to 
the vote. It is scarcely possible to believe that 
the intelligent members of the Convention were 
not fully apprised, at the time, that the Church 
had come to regard the act of the General Con- 
ference as a blunder, and to see that it was un- 
constitutional, and could never become law, 
even in the sense contemplated by the formal 
suspension of the Restrictive Rule. Whether 
they knew it or not, it is true that many of the 
delegates had declared that they voted for the 
"Plan ,? under a misapprehension; that they did 
not anticipate the immediate calling of a Con- 
vention to effect a division of the Church; that 
such a movement was contrary to the general 
understanding, and that it vitiated the essential 
terms of the compact, implied or expressed in 
the action taken. 

It follows from the foregoing considerations 
that the line finally drawn had no greater 
authority behind it than the Louisville Conven- 
tion ; that it was binding only on the Southern 
Church; that the movable feature in con- 



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75 



nection with it was impracticable for good, and 
liable to be a source of irritation and friction ; 
and, finally, that it defeated its own purpose by 
opening the way for both Churches to occupy 
the same territory. This last suggestion is 
worthy of more attention than it has received. 

There has been much complaint against the 
Methodist Episcopal Church for entering Ken- 
tucky and other Border States, and organizing 
Churches on territory claimed by the Southern 
Church. We do not pretend that our only right 
to enter that territory is found in the provision 
of the Louisville Convention, in connection with 
the movable feature of the line ; but it is cei - 
tain that that provision was itself ample to jus- 
tify the old Church in continuing to minister to 
those who preferred her ministry on that side of 
the line. In other words, the Southern Church 
made provision for the old Church to re-estab- 
lish herself on the south side of the line in all 
places where the congregations voted against 
adhering to the new Church. 

The writer has distinct recollections on this 
subject. In 1845, shortly after the close of 
the Louisville Convention, the preachers sent by 



7 6 



American Methodism. 



the Kentucky Conference to charges on the Ohio 
River, began to take the vote in the congrega- 
tions on the question as to whether they would 
adhere North or South, as they expressed it. 
A goodly number of congregations in Kentucky 
voted to remain in the old Church. These 
were at once abandoned by their Southern pas- 
tors, and left at liberty to receive preachers sent 
to them from the other side of the river. The 
Rev. John Meek, at that time traveling the 
Georgetown Circuit in the old Ohio Conference, 
was sent over to gather up these abandoned 
congregations, and reorganize the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in Kentucky; and the writer 
was employed to fill the place vacated by him 
when he went to perform that duty. The sev- 
eral congregations in that State which voted 
against entering the Southern Church never 
lost their standing as members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church ; and consequently the old 
Church never lost her footing in that State, and 
is not there as an intruder or a newcomer into 
territory previously occupied by another Church. 
She represents the original Methodism of Ken- 
tucky; her line of succession there is un- 



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77 



broken; and she is there by prescriptive right 
under the action of the Louisville Convention, 
as well as by the original right which she never 
lawfully forfeited. 

The next point worthy of consideration in 
this connection is, that after fixing the line that 
was supposed to restrict their labors to the 
slaveholding States, our Southern brethren did 
not keep themselves to their own side of the 
line. They crossed it, not to minister to con- 
gregations abandoned by the old Church — on 
voting to join the Southern Church — but to 
break into existing congregations which had 
not voted, and were not required to vote, on 
the subject. They came into Cincinnati, where 
they found sympathy and friends, and estab- 
lished two congregations. The efforts of Rev. 
Dr. Sehon, Rev. Dr. L,atta, Rev. Win, Burke, 
Rev. G. W. Maley, and others, to establish 
Southern Methodism in Cincinnati, are not yet 
forgotten. The history of "Soule Chapel," and 
of the Southern occupancy of Union Chapel, 
when written up, will make a strange chapter 
in the records of Cincinnati Methodism. It 
will show that the Southern Church, a r ter 



78 



American Methodism. 



making the line, first disregarded it, and made 
desperate efforts to hold permanently ground 
temporarily gained in the free State of Ohio. 

This early effort in Cincinnati was not the 
last made by the Southern Church to push be- 
yond her self-prescribed boundaries. She asserts 
her right to go where she will as positively as 
does the old Church. There is little heard 
about her movements to plant herself on what 
was never slave territory ; and possibly this is 
accounted for by the fact that no one objects to 
her coming, or persecutes her ministers for 
coming. Some people will be astonished to 
learn that she has gone ontside of the limits 
originally imposed upon herself. The facts are 
not widely known. 

While the war was in progress there were 
some noted politicians in Ohio who violently 
opposed its prosecution, and kept themselves 
in full sympathy with the South. Among them 
was the once famous Edson B. Olds, an ex- 
congressman, of Lancaster, Ohio. He had been 
a Methodist, and retained a nominal connection 
with the Church, but was intensely embittered 
towards everything that sustained the Govern- 



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79 



ment in its efforts to subdue rebellion. He de- 
termined to leave the Church, and to have one 
organized that should be after his own heart 
politically, and free from all suspicion of loyalty 
to the Government. He issned a call for a 
public meeting in the court-house, in Lancaster, 
to take steps towards the organization of such 
a Church. The court-house bell rang at the 
hour appointed for the meeting; the crowd from 
the streets, the hotels, and the saloons, came 
together — the young hoodlums of the place in 
the majority. Mr. Olds called the meeting to 
order, and nominated 'Squire Reese as chair- 
man, and Virgil E. Shaw as secretary. These 
were elected by the vote of the crowd, many of 
the boys voting both ways. The chairman 
could not state the object of the meeting, 
and called on Mr. Olds to perform that duty. 
Mr. Olds did so in a long speech, in which he 
berated the Churches and the Government in a 
lively manner. After his speech, the secretary 
presented a paper setting forth the abomina- 
tions of the Churches, and the necessity of a 
new organization. This was followed by reso- 
lutions, previously prepared, declaring the 



So 



American Methodism. 



Church organized, and inviting a minister of an 
adjoining county, of notorious disloyalty, to be- 
come pastor. The paper and resolutions were 
adopted by the vote of the same motley crowd, 
many voting again on both sides. The meeting 
then adjourned. No attempt w T as made to have 
religious services. The new Church thus born 
was called the " Christian Union." Disaffected 
members of the different Churches subsequently 
went into it, all on political grounds. It spread 
through sections of Indiana and Illinois. The 
Rev. Mr. Ditzler, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, came into Southern Illinois, and 
found it there. He became interested in it, and 
finally induced it, or a section of it, to change 
its name, and be called the Episcopal Methodist 
Church. This was the name the Southern 
Church was trying to take at that time, but 
failed because the necessary vote in the Annual 
Conferences could not be secured. Under this 
name this peculiar organization was recognized 
by the Southern General Conference. It was 
represented in that body, and, finally, after the 
failure to change the name of the Southern 
Methodist Church, this same Episcopal Method- 



Organic Union. 



Si 



ist Church became the present Illinois Confer- 
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
It is in full communion with that Church, and 
the bishops make their annual visits to it, and 
preside over it the same as other Conferences. 
The Methodist Episcopal Church never abuses 
them for coming, and never objects to any good 
they do, or to any expenses they incur in trying 
to support this feeble, uninfluential Conference 
in our midst. 

It is more generally known that the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South, has pushed its 
way into Colorado, California, Oregon, and Mon- 
tana. Its position in some of these States is 
not very enviable ; but the old Church makes no 
war on any of the people who prefer that com- 
munion. There is no doubt that our Southern 
brethren have reasons satisfactory to themselves 
for going to the trouble and expense of organ- 
izing and trying to sustain their Church in these 
distant States. To us their presence there seems 
useless and distracting ; yet that is their busi- 
ness, not ours. 

After the war and the emancipation of the 
slaves, the Southern States were greatly impov- 



82 



American Methodism. 



erished, and Southern Methodism shared in the 
general depression. Her resources were greatly 
reduced, and of necessity she was heavily taxed 
to supply the means of grace to the needy poor 
within her chosen borders ; yet in her poverty 
she did not husband all her means to meet the 
demands at home, but pushed her agencies into 
regions beyond. As shown above, she went to 
California and Oregon ; she planted her banners 
in Colorado and Montana, and, looking long- 
ingly into the broad prairies of Illinois, she 
joined herself to the " Christian Union" faction 
of political malcontents, and took them to her 
bosom and fellowship, and still bears the bur- 
den, which is not a light one. 

It is easy to see why the old Church should 
go South to meet needs that were not met; but to 
disinterested on-lookers it is not possible to 
discover any good reason why the Southern 
Church should expend so much of her limited 
means in crowding into the Northwest, to build 
herself up through the political prejudices of 
people out of sympathy with their surroundings. 
It is hard, indeed, to resist the impression that her 
chief mission in the North and in the West is to 



Organic Union. 



83 



minister to political animosities, and encourage 
prejudices that ought never to have been born. 

In the general depression which followed the 
war, the Methodist Episcopal Church, which 
really never knew geographical limitations, went 
into the Southern States to build churches, to 
plant schools, and to preach the gospel to the 
needy. She went on a mission of peace and 
good- will; she extended the helping hand to all 
'classes, without regard to previous conditions or 
relations or political biases. She went to bless 
the people, by ministering to urgent needs and 
lifting communities into a better life. Her 
work was intended to be conciliatory and evan- 
gelistic, and it should have been met in the 
spirit of brotherliness. It was a mistake that 
Southern Methodism did not hail her coming 
with delight. In many respects the work of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern 
States since the war has been as heroic and phi- 
lanthropic as any in her history. 

It is not claimed that no mistakes have been 
made in her progress. She has not alw T ays been 
fortunate in her representatives, and therefore 
not always wise or discreet in her methods. 



8 4 



American Methodism. 



It was inevitable that some should reach 
the front and assume prominence whose records 
had not been the brightest, and whose quali- 
fications for leadership were not of the high- 
est order. This imposed double burdens on 
the noble men who went out with honorable 
rank and unsullied name, at great sacrifice of 
comfort and position, to do the Lord's work for 
the sake of the Lord and his poor. Such were 
worthy of double honor, and their memories 
will ever be held in highest esteem. They have 
done work in which the angels delight, and 
some of them have gone to the reward of the 
righteous. 

Some mistakes have been made in method 
and policy, as well as in judgment with regard 
to locations. Failures have followed, of course, 
as they were inevitable under the circumstances ; 
but, bating failures caused by mistakes, the suc- 
cess of the work inaugurated among the poorer 
classes — white as well as black — has been such 
as to justify the expenditures made as a whole. 
Unfortunately, some of the failures which have 
occurred have been in the more prominent 
places, and, although clearly exceptional, can 



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85 



be pointed to as conspicuous examples of large 
outlays for insignificant returns, and thus be 
used to impress the public unfavorably. The 
study of these exceptional cases has caused 
some good people to conclude that the work of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church among the 
white people of the Southern States is a mis- 
take. But this reasoning from particular cases 
to general conclusions is neither logical nor safe. 
The study of all the facts, including the prefer- 
ences and needs of the people reached and ben- 
efited, gives a wider view, and one that yields 
much greater satisfaction. 

Whether the work in question has been suc- 
cessful or not, it has been prosecuted under dif- 
ficulties formidable enough to discourage any 
but the most heroic ; while the principles under- 
lying our occupancy of that field are too sacred 
to be surrendered, and our motives too pure to 
permit regrets. 



VII. 



INCE the great revival in the Churches of 



^ this country in 1857, there has been a 
marked tendency on the part of ecclesiastical 
bodies of similar faith to consolidate for Chris- 
tian work. The distractions of the war period 
did not destroy this tendency, but rather in- 
creased it. The influence of the " Christian 
Commission," organized for the purpose of al- 
leviating the distresses of the war, was highly 
beneficial in the way of securing the co-opera- 
tion of the Churches. The Old and New School 
Presbyterian bodies came together as by a com- 
mon inspiration. The Methodist bodies in 
Canada rejoice in the new strength brought to 
them by the oneness achieved. The sorest 
rending of all — that which was on the slavery 
issue — is in the course of healing in the other 
Churches, and there is no good reason why it 
should not be with the Methodists. At least 
that is the conviction of many; and so widely 
does this opinion prevail, in and out of Meth- 




86 



Organic Union. 



87 



odist circles, that it devolves upon those who 
oppose the healing to furnish the reasons for 
continued separation. The object of this treat- 
ise is to impress this thought, so that the 
responsibility shall rest where it properly be- 
longs, in the event of further rivalries and an- 
tagonisms. 

With some the claim is set up that there 
can be no discussion of the subject of organic 
union so long as we continue to occupy the 
territory claimed by the Southern Church in the 
Southern States. We are called upon to with- 
draw our ministers, schools, colleges, and all 
our forces, from the South, as a condition prece- 
dent to any consideration of the future relations 
of the Churches. It might be a proper retort 
to reply that we can not think of this with- 
drawal till the Southern Church withdraws from 
the soil which has never felt the blighting 
touch of slavery. But mere retort is not argu- 
ment. As we have never objected to their 
coming, we shall not ask them to withdraw. 
It is not improbable that they reach a class of 
people in the Northern States whose prejudices 
are too great to allow them to be benefited by 



88 



American Methodism. 



our ministry so long as there is a ministry of 
the Southern type at hand. 

It is not clear that the joint occupancy of 
the same territory is inimical to future union. 
It maybe; but who can tell? Above the in- 
tentions of the actors there is possibly a provi- 
dential purpose in this overlapping of the two 
Methodisms. In its first results there is fric- 
tion, of necessity, and a severe test of the fra- 
ternal spirit. Why may not this be the means 
of showing us the folly and waste of division? 
It often happens that the things which look 
like obstacles turn to the furtherance of the 
gospel. The collisions of this joint occupancy 
at once beget oppositions, and suggest consoli- 
dation as the remedy. It will not be astonish- 
ing if the first real demand for union shall 
come from fields where the conflict is the 
sharpest. Those who feel the burden of the 
rivalry, will also feel the need of the better 
condition, and will open their hearts widest to 
welcome the advent of peace and good-will; 
just as the soldiers that stood bravest in the 
brunt of battle were the most cordial in the fra- 
ternity that came after the war. 



Organic Union. 



89 



The arguments in favor of a united Meth- 
odism are too palpable to need formal state- 
ment. Union is better than division, if it can 
possibly be had ; and whatever men may think 
of the expediency of looking and praying for it 
when the prospect of accomplishing it is so 
remote, the hopeful anticipation of it is not dis- 
loyalty to Christ. When the question is fairly 
open, and the mountains of difficulty that now 
stand forbiddingly in the way shall be seen in 
their proper dimensions as hills of moderate 
elevation, but little courage will be required to 
enter the lists, and contend for that which the 
noblest Christian sentiment gladly accepts as 
the will of God. What is in demand at the 
present time is a faith broad and vigorous 
enough to look beyond the environments of the 
hour, and take hold of the possibilities of the 
future, when the spirit of consecration shall lift 
the millions of American Methodists into the 
light and freedom of unselfish love to God and 
willing co-operation with providential plans. In 
such a future, who can imagine reasons to justify 
continued divisions? 

It is not difficult to draw pleasant pictures 
8 



90 American Methodism. . 

of the millennial state of the Church, when the 
nations shall yield to the peaceful sway of our 
holy Christianity, and when the spiritual brother- 
hood of the followers of Christ shall become a 
veritable realization; but to bring about that 
happy condition, or to do the best thing to- 
wards hastening it, is quite a different task. 
The man who dreams of the coming glory of 
the Church does no harm, and by painting his 
visions for others he may stimulate faith and 
hope, and be useful; but he who takes the 
Church and the world as he finds them, and 
uses all the power of a devoted life in lifting 
burdens from others, and removing stumbling- 
blocks from the pathway of ajixious souls, does 
more to help the Church forward to the brighter 
day than is possible to any dreamer of beautiful 
dreams. 

It is not possible to stimulate zeal for the 
reunion of Methodism till the persuasion of its 
practicability becomes prevalent, to quite a con- 
siderable extent, in the several branches of the 
Church to be affected. Fancy pictures of the 
advantages of union will be of little service so 
long as there is no hope of making them real- 



Organic Union. 



91 



ities. Every turn of the subject brings us back 
to the question of possibility. In studying this 
question, in order to be perfectly fair, we must 
assume the moral preparation for it ; that is, we 
must proceed on the supposition that all parties 
are ready and willing for it, provided it can be 
brought about without any humiliations, and 
without sacrifices too great to be considered. 
We do not mean to say that this moral prepa- 
ration exists now as a matter of fact, although 
it is highly probable that there is more of it in 
the Churches than is largely suspected ; but the 
thought is, that in looking at the possibility of 
the adjustment of questions of business and office 
and government, we are to regard all parties as 
favorably disposed, so that nothing shall stand 
in the way but those things which are real and 
tangible. Every one can see that parties will- 
ing to come to an honorable agreement can 
conquer difficulties that would be unconquerable 
to the unwilling. So it is in looking at the 
question of possibility as an abstract question. 
If one is indisposed to the union, his mind 
will magnify the difficulties in the way till what 
will seem practicable to others, will appear to 



92 



American Methodism. 



him absolutely impossible. It therefore follows 
that some moral preparation is necessary to the 
unbiased study of the abstract question of the 
possibility of ultimate Methodist union. He 
only is qualified to look at it impartially who is 
willing to be convinced upon reasonable grounds. 
All that is asked in this direction is freedom 
from positive prejudice. 

The question of officers will come into the 
account, whether we desire it or not. One of 
the economies of union is in the matter of 
official positions. Fewer officers in the general 
work of the Church will be required with the 
consolidation than with the division, as at 
present. It can not be believed, however, that 
the reduction of offices to be filled can become 
a serious question in its relation to the possi- 
bility of union, whatever influence it may have 
in determining the desirability of this consum- 
mation. Fewer bishops will be necessary with 
one Church than with two ; but all the bishops 
in office will not be too many when the union 
is effected, only the necessity for the election of 
others will not be so great ; so that the union 
will only interfere with the prospects of a few 



Organic Union. 



93 



persons who may anticipate this promotion. 
Such an outcome is unavoidable ; but who can 
see in this anything bearing on the question of 
the practicability of the reunion? The same 
is true of the other offices, only the reduction 
will not be so great as might be supposed. 
About as many publishing agents will be re- 
quired for the Book Concerns, and probably the 
same number of editors for official papers. The 
aggregate number of missionary secretaries, and 
secretaries for other Church boards, would 
probably not be so great as now ; but who can 
see anything in this that has to do with this 
question of possibility? The whole matter of 
offices and officers could be settled without 
friction by intelligent negotiations. 

The great question relates to the government 
of so large a body as would be our united 
Methodism. The trouble is not in having so 
many people amenable to the same Discipline — 
for the laws that govern a million are equally 
adapted to the government of any number of 
millions — but the representation of the larger 
number in the General Conference is a question 
of serious import. Already the General Confer- 



94 



American Methodism. 



ence is large. Many think it too large for con- 
venience or successfnl work. That some im- 
provement in its methods to secure greater 
deliberation is important, is beyond question. 
The near future must bring some radical changes 
in the ratio of representation, and it is not im- 
possible to devise such regulations as will secure 
equal rights to ten millions as well as to five or 
three. It is only necessary to recognize the un- 
questionable fact that two competent delegates 
can represent a Conference, for all the purposes 
of wise legislation, as well as five. Whether 
the reunion comes or not, the time is coming 
when the largest Conferences in the connection 
will be satisfied with less than half the delegates 
they now send. Two ministers can represent 
the largest Conference as well as two laymen. 

In the consolidation the number of the 
Annual Conferences will not be increased to the 
extent that the first thought would suggest. In 
the territory where there is now overlapping, 
there would be consolidations that would prevent 
the increase of the number of the Conferences. A 
goodly number of Conferences in both Churches 
would be absorbed and cease to be Conferences. 



Organic Union. 



95 



The Southern Conferences in Illinois, Colorado, 
California, Oregon, and Montana would be 
absorbed in other Conferences on the same 
ground. Such would be the fate of our smaller 
Conferences in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, 
and in all the Southern States. Besides these, 
there are other consolidations possible ; so that 
in the reorganization of the work, while there 
would be an increase of large Conferences, there 
would be such a reduction in the number of 
small Conferences that, in the aggregate, the 
number of Annual Conferences represented in 
the General Conference would not be much 
greater than at the present time. A careful 
computation will show that a General Confer- 
ence of six hundred delegates will amply repre- 
sent the consolidated Methodism of the entire 
country. 

It is conceded that a body of that size is 
somewhat inconvenient. As to the matter of 
entertainment, there is no trouble to be appre- 
hended. Delegates will not be quartered on 
private hospitality as in former years at any 
rate. The whole Church will bear the expense, 
which will be lighter in proportion than at the 



96 American Methodism. 



present. The rules of order and of business 
can be arranged so that confusion and delay 
and loss of time can be avoided, making the 
larger body as deliberate and efficient, and even 
more methodical than our General Conferences 
have been for several sessions past. It is there- 
fore needless to be deterred from the consider- 
ation of so great an achievement on the ground 
that our legislative and governmental machinery 
can not be adapted to so great a constituency. 
The regular growth of the Church as it is re- 
quires frequent modifications of the ratio of 
representation, and all that is necessary is will- 
ingness to come to a basis that will admit of 
an indefinite increase of membership and min- 
isters, without enlarging the General Confer- 
ence to absolutely unwieldy proportions. This 
will probably be reached in time by adopting a 
plan of Conference representation, modeled 
more after the United States Senate than the 
House of Representatives. When the minimum 
number of ministers necessary to the existence 
of an Annual Conference shall be considerably 
raised, and when no Conference, however large, 
shall be entitled to more than two ministerial 



Organic Union. 



97 



delegates, and the smaller ones to one each, a 
basis will be fixed that will be permanent. 
Then will the possibility of combinations for 
election purposes be almost, if not entirely, de- 
stroyed; and then also will an election to the 
General Conference be an honor indeed, as it 
will be the expression of the judgment of the 
majority freely given. In such conditions the 
fittest men will be chosen. Accommodation 
and complimentary elections will go out of 
fashion. Character and experience will count 
for more than the less solid qualities which 
often secure popularity and prominence, while 
adroitness in management will be at a discount. 

It is said, as an embarrassment in the way 
of reunion, that the Churches have diverged so 
much in "rules and regulations " that any com- 
ing together will be impossible. This is an 
imaginary trouble. In a few things there has 
been divergence; but not in anything that re- 
lates to doctrines or morals, or in anywise in- 
volves conscience. There are differences with 
respect to the order of District Conferences, the 
method of electing lay delegates, and some 
other matters of that sort. Possibly the most 

9 



9 8 



American Methodism. 



serious is, that the Southern Church has abol- 
ished the plan of receiving members on proba- 
tion. We retain the old practice of making the 
minimum term of probation six months, and 
will not be likely to surrender the principle. 
The condition of the work has changed since 
the period of six months was made the shortest 
term, so that the purposes of probation can be 
as well met in half the time. In former years 
the large circuit system kept the preachers from 
the opportunity of speedy acquaintance with 
the applicants for membership; but now the 
majority of converts come through the Sabbath- 
school, and all are so immediately under the 
watch-care of the pastor that three months will 
give him a better knowledge of his people, and 
better opportunity to learn the character of 
candidates for membership, than six months 
did in the early years of Methodism. In special 
cases, where three months are not sufficient, the 
term could be prolonged to six or nine months, 
or indefinitely, when necessary. The three 
months' probation would answer every purpose 
as the minimum; and there is little doubt that 
the Southern Church, after its experience with- 



Organic Union. 



99 



out any probation, would find it advantageous 
to retrace its steps to this extent. When once 
the spirit of union possesses the two bodies, 
all these differences of regulation can be har- 
monized without trouble or sacrifice. In fact, 
the question of the possibility of the consolida- 
tion turns not on any of these matters, but 
solely on the moral preparation for it. If the 
Churches are not willing for it, but deliberately 
prefer separation, that settles the question, and 
banishes all hope, till superabounding grace 
brings more light and a better spirit. 



VIII. 



O some it will occur that, up to this point, 



* the most serious feature of this whole busi- 
ness has been passed over without mention. 
The subject of color has been alluded to more 
than once, yet only in a general way. The 
principle that guides the Methodist Episcopal 
Church has been clearly presented. In all that 
relates to legal rights or spiritual privileges in 
the Church of God, she knows no difference in 
race, language, color, or nationality. All who 
are converted at her altars are welcomed to her 
communion. 

It is a matter of regret that there is any 
question of color to be considered in connection 
with the future relations of Methodists, or any 
any other Christian people; but the question is 
here, and it will have its place in this general 
subject in spite of our wishes to the contrary. 
If we could but follow the law of the gospel, as 
indicated above, and know nothing of distinct- 
ive races or colors in the Church, as nothing is 




ioo 



Organic Union. 



ioi 



known of them in the kingdom of God, many 
perplexing problems would be solved, and many 
painful anxieties relieved. It is pitiful, when 
we come to think about it, that, because of 
color-prejudices, there should be organized 
Churches for different races, with all the par- 
aphernalia of denominational appliances. The 
principles of the Methodist Episcopal Church do 
not require such an arrangement. Within her 
pale are some hundreds of thousands of colored 
people, whose rights are as sacred and as sacredly 
guarded as are the rights of any other members. 
It is not, therefore, within us to prefer colored 
denominational organizations for colored people. 

There are, however, three different Churches 
or denominations of colored Methodists in this 
country, all in fraternal relations with our own 
Church. It is not necessary to rehearse the his- 
tory of these organizations. Each has had some 
reason for its separate existence. In times past 
the embarrassments under which the colored 
people labored were very great. Those who 
went out from the Methodist Episcopal Church 
had their grievances — grievances peculiar to that 
day, and which can never again return. With 



102 



American Methodism. 



their disabilities and surroundings, it seemed to 
tliem duty to go out, and at this day we dare not 
say that it was not best. Our present regret is 
that they are not united in one Church instead of 
three. The differences between these Churches 
are not great in principle. They are one in doc- 
trine, as they are one with us ; and in Church 
polity their divergences are comparatively few 
and insignificant. 

Their ultimate aim should be consolidation 
with the general Methodism of the country. The 
hand of the Methodist Episcopal Church is ex- 
tended to each and all of them for fraternity or 
for organic union. It is not becoming that we 
press the subject upon them before they desire 
it. They are committed to the idea of race 
Churches, and may see in that idea more excel- 
lencies than appear to us, accustomed as we are 
to the larger thought that discards distinctions 
on race or color lines. In practice there are 
some advantages in their separation. It brings 
more men to the front as leaders. It accustoms 
them to the forms and methods of legislation. 
But it deprives them of association in this work 
with others. With some gain, it has many losses. 



Organic Union. 103 

As a permanent policy it is objectionable on 
many sides, and for many reasons. In onr plan 
there is all the separation needed. Where they 
prefer it, the colored people have colored con- 
gregations, pastors, and Conferences ; yet they 
are not separated by law or commandment, but 
for their convenience and comfort. So can it be 
when all are merged in the one American Meth- 
odism. 

At the late Ecumenical Conference some 
steps were taken looking to the nnion of these 
three branches of the Church. It will be a 
great thing for the cause of evangelical Chris- 
tianity, and for Methodism, and for the colored 
people, if the African Methodist Episcopal, the 
African Methodist Episcopal Zion, and the Col- 
ored Methodist Church, shall succeed in consol- 
idating their forces. It will be a long stride in 
the right direction. If they can not come to us, 
they can do better work as one denomination 
than as three. Numbers will give them strength. 
The consolidation will enable them to econo- 
mize in men and means. It will help eliminate 
inefficient and unsuccessful preachers. It will 
enlarge the power of their schools, their publish- 



104 American Methodism, 

ing agencies, and all their connectional forces. 
We bid them God-speed! In union among 
themselves they will be in better condition to 
consider the ultimate and greater union to which 
we look in the future, when the broader princi- 
ples of our own Methodism shall prevail. 

It has been said by some that this question 
of color will be an obstacle in the way of consol- 
idation with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. It has caused some hesitancy in the 
past, without doubt. Possibly it may in the 
future. There is no prejudice that dies harder 
than color-prejudice. 

With our friends in the South the prejudice 
is not merely against color. Proofs abound that 
they tolerate color and associate with it, without 
scruple, when it is kept in servile conditions. 
It goes hard with them to look upon colored 
people as other than servile. But they are 
learning. Southern Methodists are educating 
the blacks. They have founded one or two 
schools of good grade for this purpose, and 
Southern Methodist preachers act as agents for 
these schools, visiting the Churches, taking col- 
lections, and pleading earnestly and eloquently 



Organic Union. 105 

for the education of the colored young men and 
women of the country. 

True, they were late in beginning this work, 
and they go about it under disadvantages; but 
they are at it. Revolutions go not backward. 
They will continue the good work. The seed 
sown in their Churches will bear fruit. The 
schools and colleges of our Church in the South 
have shown such possibilites in this field that 
the Southern Church could not fail to see duty 
in a new light, and as. the patron of the Colored 
Methodist Episcopal Church of America she 
has come to the aid of that Church in edu- 
cational work in good earnest. 

It was widely thought that when the General 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, organized this colored Church, ordained 
its bishops, and set it up in independence as a 
Church, its chief aim was to get rid of its colored 
membership. There was ground for this think- 
ing. But better things have come to pass. The 
newly opened fountain of liberality is pouring 
streams of blessings on the needy. Both 
Churches are to be congratulated. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is 



io6 American Methodism. 



now the special friend of the colored people — 
this is her profession. Then why should the 
fact that there are colored members in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, enjoying equal rights 
under the law of the Church and full represen- 
tation in the General Conference, be any barrier to 
the contemplated reunion? When the fraternal 
delegates from that Church come to our General 
Conference, and see the colored delegates in 
their places, taking part in the proceedings and 
enjoying their liberty, they experience no shock, 
find no fault, betray no disgust, and suffer no 
detriment. It can not be that their eloquent 
strains of fraternal love are intended only for 
those of light complexion! We have a better 
opinion of their sincerity and greatness of soul. 
Their ideas have grown as well as ours. The 
brotherhood of humanity has dawned upon 
them with inspiring influence. The gospel of 
free grace and unbounded redemption in Christ, 
as preached in their pulpits, gives no uncertain 
sound, and as the truth is proclaimed that "God 
is no respecter of persons," those who preach it 
learn to apply it to the problems and prejudices 
of the hour. As we believe in the divinity of 



Organic Union. 



107 



this gospel, we must believe that all who receive 
it will ultimately come to the practical recog- 
nition of human rights, regardless of race or 
color. 

We will not suffer any suggested doubt of 
the sincerity of our Southern brethren, in their 
professions of regard for the colored people, to 
abide in our hearts. Their education has been 
different from ours. The old notion that color 
marked the race for servitude was interwoven 
with their childhood thoughts, was strength- 
ened by the sights and sounds that greeted their 
eyes and ears in youth and early life, till it be- 
came rooted and grounded in them as next to an 
ineradicable conviction. It was hard for them 
to believe in the possibility of educating colored 
people. Nothing could convince them of this 
but actual demonstration. The demonstration 
has come; and the multitudes of colored gradu- 
ates from our schools and colleges, with refined 
manners and scholarly bearing, command the 
approval and admiration of those so recently in- 
credulous as to their capability of education. 
The revolution is going forward. The Southern 
people will yet confess the wrongs done to the 



io8 American Methodism. 

colored race. They will also cease to be 
shocked at the idea of recognizing them as 
brethren in the Church of Jesus Christ. 

It is an easy step from the advocacy of the 
education of young colored people to the ac- 
knowledgment of their manhood rights. That 
step will be taken. It is not a question of social 
rank, but of the merits of personal character. 
The Church of God is the first place for the 
recognition of human rights of every kind. 
Social equality has never been a condition of 
the acknowledgment of equal rights under the 
law of the Church and at the altar of worship. 
It never can be, except where blinding preju- 
dice obscures all spiritual vision. We can not 
therefore believe that this question of race is to 
be a final hindrance to the union of the Churches. 

There are excellent qualities in Southern 
Methodism — qualities worthy of commendation 
and imitation in all the Churches. Soundness 
of doctrine is maintained with reference to all 
that is vital in the Christian system. There is 
probably less of adventurous speculation in the 
pulpits of that Church than in our own. The 
word of God is laid upon the consciences of the 



Organic Union. 



109 



people, with its stern requirements and penal- 
ties as well as with its promises and grace, as 
the only standard of moral obligation. This 
fidelity to the Scriptures as of divine authority, 
is the saving factor in view of their looser prac- 
tice of admitting members without probation. 
A people thoroughly trained in orthodoxy of the 
Methodist type can not forever hold unworthy 
views of the rights, the equal rights, of the 
children of God. 

The loyalty of our Southern brethren to de- 
nominational interests is worthy of commenda- 
tion. Their zeal in rebuilding their Church 
institutions since the desolations of the war has 
been phenomenal. The history of Methodism 
scarcely affords a parallel to the successes they 
have achieved. With untiring industry and 
singleness of purpose they have wrought, de- 
voting talent and energy to the upbuilding of 
the cause of God, as they understood it. We 
have looked admiringly, through the passing 
years, upon their labor-crowned diligence in re- 
storing the waste places of Zion, and in pushing 
on victoriously to additional conquests. Having 
with us a common origin and a common faith, 



I IO 



American Methodism. 



Southern Methodists have not drifted beyond 
our sympathy. It delights us to know that they 
retain, in goodly measure, the characteristics of 
the older Methodism. The evangelical spirit 
has not forsaken them. Revivals attend their 
ministry. The impression prevails, however, 
that they depend more largely on the pulpit for 
spiritual work than do some others — more than 
is good for the spiritual health of the member- 
ship. The class-meeting has declined with them 
more than with us. The prayer-meetings and 
other social means of grace have less apprecia- 
tion that they deserve. Nevertheless, we rejoice 
in the good that remains. Whatever their fail- 
ure to fill the measure of our ideals of policy 
and catholicity, we accord them due praise for 
constancy in trials, and for devotedness to the 
Methodism of their fathers, and ours. 

Rejoicing with them in the tokens of divine 
approval in their work, and in their prosperity, 
we scorn to think them wanting in any element 
of Methodistic loyalty. Far be it from us to 
suspect that their old-time prejudices will rise 
to forbid them advancing to the highest stand- 
ard of Christian liberality. Their horizon is 



Organic Union. 



hi 



wider than in former years, their faith broader, 
and we dare believe them in earnest in working 
for the intellectual and moral uplifting of the 
colored people. This question of color must in 
due time solve itself in all the Churches of 
our Lord. 

The trend of the times is for union. Chinese 
walls of division are scarcely endurable between 
denominations of different origin and doctrine, 
much less between those of identical faith. The 
condition of the country has wonderfully changed 
since the Church divided. Everything tends to 
unify the Nation. Slavery is gone, and new 
conditions prevail. The lines of railroads bind 
the sections together. Commercial industries 
have taken on new phases; social life pours 
through channels hitherto unknown ; provincial- 
isms are dying out; the South goes North in 
summer, and the North goes South in winter. 

Sectional interests are being whelmed in the 
larger interests of the whole people. Why 
should Methodism lag behind in the forward 
movement towards the unification? Why should 
the ghost of slavery thwart the nobler instincts 
of a people saved of the Lord? Why let the 



112 



American Methodism. 



memory of old prejudices destroy the yearnings 
of Christian love? Why not rise to the height 
of Christian manhood, and take firm hold of the 
sublime possibilities of the passing decade, and 
open the new century with all the hosts of 
American Methodism in solid column for the 
conflict with the kingdom of darkness? 



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